On October 31st at 10:00 AM, volunteers are gathering at 700 East Hastings and Hawks Avenue in Strathcona to create the raised bed garden boxes necessary to convert five empty asphalt covered lots into an urban garden that will provide food, employment, and training opportunities for inner-city residents.

If you are interested in contributing to the greening of Vancouver’s inner-city we need volunteers and tools and materials, contact Seann Dory of United We Can for the latest list of what we need. Part of this project involves a mural which will include permanent recognition of the groups that made SOLEfood a reality.

This garden raising represents the culmination of months of work by a dedicated subset of the Green Inner-city Cluster. The property belongs to the owner of the Astoria Hotel who is letting us convert it to a garden in exchange for paying the taxes for the next couple years. We need to begin the conversion this month in order to be eligible for lower taxes.

Artist Rendering

Save Our Living Environment is a sister organization to United We Can which was selected to be the lead organization for our first grant application. From there we got the name SOLEfood for our first urban agriculture project. Today’s coverage in the Metro and on Projects In Place’s blog neglected to mention the financial and organizational support of a number of key partners:

Below is a photo and video of Kim Kerr, Executive Director of DERA speaking about the illegal tenant eviction notices issues by the Golden Crown SRO in Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES)

This was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a Nokia N95 mobile cameraphone. April is passionate and skilled in making Nokia films by exploring mobile media production through the camera lens of a cellphone. For a better quality version of this video, please DM April Smith @AprilFilms on Twitter.

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Below are photos and video of Kim Kerr introducing Ellen Woodsworth, City Councillor of Vancouver to speak

This was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a Nokia N95 mobile cameraphone. April is passionate and skilled in making Nokia films by exploring mobile media production through the camera lens of a cellphone. For a better quality version of this video, please DM April Smith @AprilFilms on Twitter.

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Below is a photo and video of William Walton and other affected tenants of Golden Crown SRO Hotel speaking. Wendy Pedersen of CCAP is also present in the video.

This was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a Nokia N95 mobile cameraphone. April is passionate and skilled in making Nokia films by exploring mobile media production through the camera lens of a cellphone. For a better quality version of this video, please DM April Smith @AprilFilms on Twitter.

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Below is a photo of the inside of William Walton’s Single Room at the Golden Crown SRO Hotel

Below is a video of inside William Walton’s room

This was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a Nokia N95 mobile cameraphone. April is passionate and skilled in making Nokia films by exploring mobile media production through the camera lens of a cellphone. For a better quality version of this video, please DM April Smith @AprilFilms on Twitter.

Below are photos of Paulina Walton, Wife of William Walton speaking on the bug infested conditions and her feelings on being illegally evicted at Golden Crown SRO Hotel in Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES)

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Below is a photo of Kim Kerr speaking with William Walton

Below is a video of Kim Kerr and Ellen Woodsworth talking with William Walton and Paulina Walton, tenants of Golden Crown SRO Hotel who have been issued an illegal eviction notice

This was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a Nokia N95 mobile cameraphone. April is passionate and skilled in making Nokia films by exploring mobile media production through the camera lens of a cellphone. For a better quality version of this video, please DM April Smith @AprilFilms on Twitter.

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Below is a photo and video of Paulina Walton speaking on her situation at the Golden Crown SRO Hotel

This was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a Nokia N95 mobile cameraphone. April is passionate and skilled in making Nokia films by exploring mobile media production through the camera lens of a cellphone. For a better quality version of this video, please DM April Smith @AprilFilms on Twitter.

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Below is a photo of William and Paulina Walton, remaining hopeful that their situation at the Golden Crown SRO Hotel will be helped.

This was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a Nokia N95 mobile cameraphone. April is passionate and skilled in making Nokia films by exploring mobile media production through the camera lens of a cellphone. For a better quality version of this video, please DM April Smith @AprilFilms on Twitter.

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To see all 104 photos of Press Conference at Golden Crown’s Illegal Tenant Evictions on Flickr:

In this video, Ken Glofcheskie of AHA MEDIA reports on how a tenant got electrocuted while climbing the fire escape at the rear of the Arco Hotel.

There was an unfortunate incident at the Arco Hotel on Pender St. recently that saw a tenant electrocuted while climbing the fire escape at the rear of the building. According to reliable sources the tenant lives on the fourth floor of the Arco and was attempting to scale the fire escape when he grabbed a live wire and was electrocuted.

The tenant received serious injuries and is currently in hospital in a coma. The hand that came into contact with the wire had two fingers completely burned off and the rest of his hand was blackened to the bone according to witnesses at the scene. In all probability this person will lose his hand. As well, the tenant received life threatening injuries to the groin area as the current arced through his body to the waist high metal railing on the fire escape.

Witnesses also say that he was in contact with the wire for almost twenty seconds as his hand froze shut on the wire once he came into contact with the electrical current which also caused his stomach to blow wide open as his whole body erupted into flames!!

While BC Hydro appears to insulated the wire of cause of problems with a protective barrier, there is still a live wire that runs close to the fire escape that remains unprotected.

The Arco, which is managed by ATIRA Property Management, have in the past received recommendations from both the previous and current managers to provide security camera coverage for the fire escape area as there has been an ongoing problem with misuse of the fire escape by tenants either sneaking in guests after hours or avoiding use of the front door for whatever reasons.

Although it can not be said with certainty that a camera would have prevented this tragedy, with a desk staff monitoring the cameras there would have been at least the opportunity to have seen this person scaling the fire escape and immediate preventive measures could have been taken.

Hopefully this will motivate ATIRA to provide such coverage in an attempt to prevent such further senseless and serious injury. The Arco is a BC Housing building recently purchased in the well publicized buying spree in the run up to the recent provincial election.

In this video, Roy ( who declined to be filmed ) speaks about the horrible living conditions which include bed bugs, rats and cockroaches that he and his partner face.

What is even more surprising is how his rent jumped $65 dollars extra and how he lives on just $100 a month for support!!

Roy’s personal story is just one of the indications that gentrification and homelessness are becoming more apparent in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside

This was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a Nokia N95 mobile cameraphone. April is passionate and skilled in making Nokia films by exploring mobile media production through the camera lens of a cellphone. For a better quality version of this video, please DM April Smith @AprilFilms on Twitter.